I am looking to insure my new puppy - looking for the best deal, of course, which does not necessarily mean the cheapest - who are you with??

i find petplan the best as i have never known them to argue over a pay out and have a "lifetime cover" on illnesses etc.. so no higher amount cut off sorry had to edit that to say on their supreme plan

Excellent - that's just the sort of info I'm looking for - anyone else??

If you go into search at the top of the page and type in insurance, you will see this has been covered at lot on the site, I am with Marks and Sparks but going to change to the kennel club one its cheaper.

I'm with M&S and no complaints about the actual cover, our dog has just had £700 worth of treatment we got the cheque 2 weeks after the claim.  The one thing with M&S is that they used to be quite cheap but bumped up the premiums considerably last year.

Do your insurance policies cover 3rd party incase your dog causes an accident or other such event ?

yeh up to a million pound??? strange but i suppose if they caused a major traffic accident or bit and you were sued i suppose it could go to hundreds of thousands

Give Tescos a call for 4 dogs £28 excess is £60

Which ever one you choose make sure you check the small print and get cover for life. SOme companies will give you a certain amount per condition which means that if they develop arthritis they will only pay up to say £4000 for that condition throughout the dogs life and won't pay for it after that. Others like pet plan or m and s will give you £4000 (or more depending on the policy per year.) Some like tesco's old policy only cover the condition for a year which in my opinion is a bit of a waste of money as very few conditions will last less than a year and never reoccur.

I'm with petplan and on the top cover which means they cover an illness for the life of the dog and there is no maximum they pay each year for any illness. There is an excess of £60 i think per condition per year.

For a Berner this is £50p/m.. Its a lot but with what this breed can have its worth every penny, not great at saving so this is the best way for me.

I have also used Pet Plan - still do, the supreme plan.  We had a dog with no major, but multiple on-going health problems and PP always paid for the duration of his life without query (sadly only 5 1/2 years - RIP my baby boy).  His medication was about £150 per month.  We paid £90 excess per year for each condition - which in comparison to the claims was minimal.  He lived a happy healthy life and we would not have been able to afford the monthly costs. 

However, I now have a dog who is nearly a year, she is about as healthy as it gets and we pay alot of money each month for the same cover and have made no claims.

I guess my point is that insurance can be expensive initially but when you really need it, the peace of mind that comes with having a good policy is worth it in the end??

I have a friend who puts the sme amount in savings and uses this soley for her dogs.  Just another thought...

Good luck, Dawn R

Just read my happy healthy bit - mmmmm could have worded that bit better.

Dawn R

Must say I am now financially able to consider the best insurance for my dogs, not just the best value (ie good cover at reasonable price).  Must say in the past before dog insurance became really big business we always used Petplan and I was looking at it again.  I think the posts here have persuaded me that is the way to go.

Zuma is 5th dog I have had, 1st one I have insured - OH and I are both now retired- Took out the top level AXA policy in end of Oct 08 and had to put 1st claim for £770+ in end Dec 08, had two more 'continuation claims after and so far they have paid out just over £1000. policy cost £164 with excess of £50 so on present premium that is next 6 years premiums equivelant.
Chris

I am with AXA for Jesse and I started her last year.  Since then she has had kennel cough, ear problems and lip fold infections.  My bills have come to nearly £3000 and each time I claimed they paid within about two weeks. She now has to have her lip folds removed and that is going to be a huge expense too.  I highly recommend them.

Bentley is with Pet Plan and I can't change him over because he has ongoing tummy problems.